Daily stops at Frivolities for Geneva’s coffee had become more or less habitual for Rainn.
“Any word on Lindsay?” Geneva greeted Rainn before the bell on the Frivolities door finished its tinkle.
“Nope. If she doesn’t turn up soon, I’ll have to get Mia into school, which shouldn’t be a big ordeal since I have legal custody.” A few more days, and the two-week timeline he’d given himself would be up.
A sappy sixties love ballad crooned over the speakers. His mood lightened with the sounds and smells. Kind of like cookies. Cinnamon and vanilla, the coffee aroma, no overpowering perfume smells like some places he’d walked into with Lindsay when she was clean.
“Remember, Mia, look straight ahead and not on the things for sale around you.” He silently thanked Geneva and Moselle for coming up with that idea. Mia needed to focus on where she was going so she would not be distracted by all the retail items.
No problem today, Mia ran ahead on her way to the back office. She found the light green couch as much to her liking as Moselle’s loft. She was more comfortable in either of those two places, so the women were right. He imagined the colors and volume of over-the-top merchandise assaulted her senses.
“It sure makes life easier, knowing I can leave Mia with you or Moselle,” he said, accepting the proffered to-go cup. “I needed that last stretch of time to concentrate on the church window renovation. I rubbed paper over the existing lead joints for the remaining windows, and I even managed something creative.”
“Like what?” Geneva stepped closer. Her lavender scent mingled with others surrounding them.
He decided to take a seat at an ice cream table for two. “I drew cartoons for two lampshade designs.”
“Sounds good.” Geneva caught his eye, then fiddled with her apron. “Do you remember our first conversation?”
“Other than thinking you could be Moselle’s sister? Sure, I ventured in, feeling like the frilly things draped from the ceiling were attacking me. Way too feminine for my taste.”
He set his coffee aside and took her hands in his. He’d found a safe haven in her presence. “Talking to you that day calmed me down. You helped me select a hand-quilted Bible cover for Lindsay’s birthday.”
“You dangled the yellow ribbon ties over your hand, and said with certainty that the hunter green and orangey brown fabric was the perfect gift for your sister.”
“I came to Frivolities that day for Lindsay. Now I walk in because of you and Mia.”
Mia chose that moment to run up and hug Geneva around the waist. “Do you need me to help make things to sell in the store today?”
Geneva hugged her back and added a squeeze. “We can always use your help.”
All three Frivolities women had adjusted their business and creative activities to include Mia.
He owed Geneva big time. Thank You as well, Father God.
At the moment, he sipped coffee and felt content. The pair now twirling toward the bottom of the loft stairs, assured him he was in the right place at the right time. He sipped again and felt a clenching in his chest. He couldn’t imagine life without either of them.
Little girl giggles drew attention to his niece’s freckled face. She now stood with her hand on Geneva’s shoulder, one foot on Geneva’s thigh. Geneva sat on a low step while she adjusted the strap of Mia’s hot pink shoe.
“Shoes that stick together are better than tying. Tying would be too hard for Mia.”
“That’s right, sugar. Let’s check the other one. I bet you tried to wear socks the last time you wore these shoes. That’s why they are loose today.”
“Uncle Rainn needs to know that.”
“Well, I think Uncle Rainn does a super job helping with your clothes.”
She looked up, and gave him a feminine smile that made him feel as though he was the only man in the world. Her expression shot straight to the middle of his chest.
For his benefit as much as Mia’s, he was sure, Geneva spoke in an exaggerated whisper, all the while keeping eye contact with Rainn. “There aren’t very many uncles, or men for that matter, who can even put ladybug barrettes in a girl’s hair and make her look so pretty.”
He mouthed a “thank-you” before gulping the last of his brew.
“My mommy hurted my hair sometimes. Uncle Rainn combs my hair soft,” Mia said with a seriousness that shot the tightness in his chest straight up in his throat.
Moselle came from the back and extended her hand. “Mia, join me in the loft and let’s make something pretty.”
The cell phone trilled on his hip, to the tune of seeing a lover’s face for the first time. He caught the astonishment on Geneva’s face and shot her a ‘surprised-ya-didn’t-I’ wink.
Caller ID showed the Fort Worth, Texas, area code. On the move, he said hello at the same time he dropped his Styrofoam cup in a waste basket designed to look like a flower. He headed out the back door for privacy.
“Mr. Harris, this is Detective Benjamin Massey of the Fort Worth Police Department. We’ve found some identification that belongs to your sister, and I hate to break this news over the phone, but the ID was next to a body. We need you to come down for identification purposes, please.”
Stunned, yet not really surprised since he’d spent countless moments in the middle of countless nights over the years anticipating such a call, his stomach turned.
He slumped against the brick wall, ending the call with no remembrance of how he had responded.
Rainn tried to pray, but the words wouldn’t form. His spirit only cried out to the Lord for strength. Peace soon encircled him, and on sturdier legs, he returned indoors to search out the one person he needed most at the moment.
When he saw her, Geneva was leaning over the antique desk in her office, moving the mouse and frowning at the computer monitor. To Rainn, Geneva represented solace. He wanted to hide in her presence.
Thank You again, Lord, for providing this wonderful woman.
Rainn could almost count the seconds passing. The oldies station that Geneva insisted was the only music to fill Frivolities, played in the background. The lyrics expressed the feelings of his heart. No, he wouldn’t be afraid as long as Geneva stood by him. He read the Lord’s reassurance into the song as well. He wasn’t alone. He had no reason to fear.
He should be thinking about the seriousness of the news the phone call brought. Instead, he was filled with the fragrance of Geneva. She was the reality in his life at the moment, and he wanted to drown in her presence. He studied her face while she searched his. Unspoken emotions thrummed through the air.
“Lindsay?” she spoke, as though hearing his mind calling out for his sister.
He gave one nod and by the time he closed his eyes, tears were falling.
“I’m so sorry. What’s happened?” She glided toward him.
“They’ve found a woman’s body in an alley. Along with Lindsay’s purse. I have to go to Fort Worth.”
“But Rainn, you don’t know for sure it’s her, right?”
“I’ve just had this gut feeling since we went for Mia that I’d never see my sister again.”
Geneva’s warmth, her softness, her scent, wrapped around him and captured his brokenness.
How long had it been since he’d cried so hard? He didn’t know. But whenever it was, no one had comforted him like this woman. She surrounded him, filled all the lonely corners. Her arms represented those of friend, mother, sister, lover; all the females he’d needed in his life.
“Don’t be ashamed of your tears, Rainn. They make you a real man.”
He drew a shaky breath, attempting to ease the pain in his chest.
They did an awkward side-stepping dance over to the sofa. She leaned against the armrest. He sank onto the cushion. Geneva swung her leg to shut the door with her foot.
While she cradled his head against her chest, Rainn tried to pull himself together. “I never had a chance to be honest with Lindsay.”
Geneva’s fingers smoothed the hair above his ear.
“I loved her, but I never tried to understand her weakness for drugs.” His chest quivered when he attempted to gain composure. “I only judged. So, I’ll confess in front of you. Since our parents neglected the situation with Lindsay, I went to her rescue all the time. Where Mia’s concerned, I always considered myself a better parental choice than my own sister.”
A drop of moisture dribbled over his temple. Geneva was crying with him. And here he sat, a supposedly mature Christian; yet he had never empathized with his sister.
Rainn felt suspended in time. The same oldies song played on and on about not being afraid and standing alone.
It was a reminder that believers, like lovers turning to one another, were to turn to Jesus in their time of trouble.
Rainn swiped the tears from his cheeks. He relaxed his arms in order to pull back, but clung to Geneva instead, needing the connection with her. He slid his fingers over her shoulders in a long caress, then down her arms, memorizing the lines of soft curves, and threaded their fingers together.
Her sharp intake of breath was loud in the office. Even in distress, physical awareness dangled in the air between them.
He wanted to always be able to share his pain with her. Rainn glanced up from their joined hands to focus on her face.
Geneva freed one hand from his and smoothed the bothersome hair off his forehead. He wanted to run away, to go somewhere private and do nothing but let her envelope him.
“Tell me how I can help.”
Her voice sounded fuzzy, and he blamed it on the emotions that had struck him out of nowhere, like a sudden explosion of fire.
“You’ve already helped me, Geneva.” He cleared his throat. Rainn drew her hand to his side and squeezed her fingers between his own. “I don’t know what to do with Mia.”
“You know you can leave her here with us. She can have Moselle’s room at the house.” She gave a nervous little noise. “Rainn, you’re holding me too tight.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“No problem. No reason to be concerned for Mia. You take that long drive to Texas to concentrate on Lindsay.”
“And to pray about what to do after I know for sure.”
“Right. For now, can I change the subject here and you can think about answering a question for me?”
He nodded, wondering what was coming.
She pulled free and eased up from the sofa. “Why do you have that particular tune on your cell phone?”
Rain felt the tension leave his body. His despair over Lindsay eased as his heart filled with Geneva. “That’s easy. Doesn’t take any thinking about. Goes back to when I first saw you. I’ve already told you what I said to Eric. If the daughter looks like the mother he’s got a winner.”
She raised a brow, waiting for him to continue.
His voice rose as he sang a popular song about love at first sight, and grew stronger with each line. He looked her over and was struck anew by the whole package of Geneva. Her coloring, arched brows and the Hollywood look of the fifties that reminded him of Rita Hayworth.
Rainn stood, brushing against the hem of her Frivolities apron. He cupped her face, traced her bottom lip with his thumb, and his gut reacted.
“Your face captivated me then. And now it’s your fault that I’m hooked on these old songs. I listen to sappy songs at night on the oldies station. I pictured your face when I listened to the lyrics, and chose that tune for my cell phone.”
Her lips parted, but she didn’t interrupt.
“I’ve been hooked on you since I held you in my arms and carried you out of a tree.”
She closed her eyes, depriving him of seeing the impact of his confession. He picked up the melody and sang a meaningful line from the song.
Geneva sucked in a gasp and her eyes popped open at the same time. How he enjoyed watching the frustration he caused.
He felt like he had wandered into a time of her youth. His heart plunged to his knees. “I never want to go back to before knowing you.”
Moisture gathered. “Oh, Rainn, whatever am I going to do with you?”